The Ribbon House
by MrFancyFoot
Summary: When Team Natsu goes on a mission to investigate a haunted house, the entirety of Fairy Tail gets more than they bargained for when several members become trapped within its walls. In between playing the House's twisted games, they find clues to what's going on and discover much about themselves and each other.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, not me.

This story is rated M for future adult situations and gratuitous swearing (heed accordingly, I can't really prevent you – but you can imagine that I am scowling and shaking my finger at you if you're under-aged). Although it may take darker turns at times, I will probably not head into horror genre territory (maybe light thriller), and there won't be detailed mentions of any gore. This will be the only mention of this unless I believe that a warning is needed, which will occur at the beginning of any relevant chapter.

Please let me know of any major formatting issues. My line breaks never make it across the upload conversion, but I think I caught them all this time.

Happy reading!

-Fancy

* * *

Chapter 01-

The morning found a drowsy Lucy slowly sipping a Mirajane-provided strawberry milkshake at the bar counter of the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. Natsu had rudely woken her up, by clambering through her bedroom window no less, to tell her of some "super awesome" mission the team was going on.

So here she sat, an hour later, falling asleep on her stool while Natsu and Gray butted heads behind her. She could have still been sleeping, the jerk. One of these days she hoped that her lessens about the need of beauty sleep and privacy would get beaten far enough into Natsu's thick skull to last a full night. Or even part of the night. Or day. She wasn't that picky as long as progress was made. Though Lucy was finding it hard to believe that Natsu was really that thick in the head after he had barged in on her "me time" during her bath the other night and had only left with that stupid grin on his face after she had thrown a wet wash cloth at his head. She thought the red blush that stained her face would never go away.

She hadn't actually been told any of the details about the mission yet, she irritably noted to herself. She'd have better luck getting them out of Erza, whenever she arrived, than trying to get between the two bozos.

Lucy toyed with one of her pigtails, noticing the lack of a little blue exceed anywhere. "I wonder where Happy is?" she mumbled to herself.

Mira, drying a glass nearby and overhearing, replied to her, "Oh, he must still not be feeling well. Natsu carried him home last night after he said his stomach was a bit upset."

Lucy 'hm'-ed, "That sucks. I hope he feel's better. I guess that means Happy isn't coming with us for the mission."

"To the haunted house?" Mira chimed.

"Uh-the-what now?" It was early and Lucy didn't think her hazy mind had actually processed that right. There was no way they were going to a haunted house.

"It sounded rather spooky when I read it over. Erza and Natsu were really pumped about it last night, though. They don't think it'll take any more than a couple days."

"They say that about every mission," Lucy rolled her eyes. "And rarely does it ever work out that we're "back in a couple days." Why were they all excited for it? That doesn't sound like any of the big-battle stuff they usually like," she questioned Mira.

"The Akane Resort is offering quite the reward for anyone who investigates the house on a nearby island and the weird goings-on there. Aside from the money offered, the whole guild would get a free week's stay at the resort," Mira looked so excited and pleased at the prospect that Lucy began to suspect that the woman may have had a hand in her teammates' questionable choice of mission.

"I'm sure you'll all be fine!" she chirped as she shuffled down the counter to assist someone.

Lucy couldn't help the slight feeling of dread that had settled in her stomach. That was a huge reward for something that Natsu and Erza seemed to deem trivial.

But, it was that time of month again where she needed to contemplate her rent. And a nice, long, restful stay at the resort when this was all finished sounded amazing.

There was a loud clash behind Lucy, making her flinch as she turned around. And there it was: Erza had finally graced them all with her presence.

Natsu and a partially clothed Gray had been flung to opposite sides of the room to end up buried under chairs and tables.

The woman responsible had made her way to the open stool beside Lucy. "You look well this morning, Lucy," spoken by someone who looked far more awake and well-rested. "I trust Natsu has filled you in on all of the mission details?"

Lucy sighed and leaned her chin on her palm, "Yeah, no. He and Gray got into it before that could happen." She added on when she caught the murderous glint to Erza's eye, not wanting to waste any more time on the boys, "Mirajane filled me in on some. Something about a haunted house on an island by Akane Resort?"

Erza settled back down on her stool with a nod and readied a fork towards the slice of cake that had been set before her by an ever-observant Mirajane, "Yes, that is right. Akane Resort has reported disappearances on the island, so we are going to investigate.

"I hope you have all of your things with you, Lucy, as we hope to be leaving soon," Erza said around a mouthful of cake.

"What? Why are we leaving so early?" This was early even for Team Natsu.

"Well," Natsu drew out, interrupting, "Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe might have had their eyes on this mission, too." There it was. Natsu felt this was some kind of competition.

Natsu was hopping impatiently from foot to foot. Gray came up next to him with a scowl as he buttoned up his shirt, "I'm still not happy about this, Natsu. I had dinner plans tonight with Juvia. She'll have my head for rescheduling!"

"It's so nice to see you giving her a chance, Gray!" Erza approved.

Natsu rolled his eyes, "In a couple days we'll have that resort vacation. That'll make up for that plenty!" He flung his bag over his shoulder and ran for the door, "Now let's get going, guys!"

Gray grunted and shook his head. He followed Natsu out the door at a more sedate pace, talking over his shoulder, "I'll meet you guys at the station in a few. I want to swing by Juvia's place to let her know about all this."

Lucy couldn't help the grin that came to her lips as the door closed behind him. She was so happy for Juvia! She was getting what she had wanted. Lucy could hardly say the same about herself. Aside from a couple lackluster dates with men outside of the guild, her love life was rather lacking.

"I wish Juvia and Gray much happiness!" Erza exclaimed before forking the last bite of cake into her mouth.

Lucy met her enthusiasm, "Me, too!"

"What about you Lucy? Do you have your eye on anyone?" Erza prodded. "I remember you telling me it didn't work out with that one guy."

"Yeah, that part of my life has been pretty empty lately," Lucy responded wistfully.

"We'll find you a man. In the meantime, I will let you borrow some of my books!" Lucy didn't have time to become flustered at Erza's offering of her raunchy novels as she was pulled up by the woman. "Come, Lucy, we must now be going!" Lucy was tripping over her own feet trying to keep up with the woman dragging her across the room. She had barely had time to snag her bag at the foot of her bar stool.

* * *

They were now all seated comfortably on the train bound for the Akane Resort. In all of his excitement, Natsu had invariably forgotten his inability to cope with his motion sickness on the train. His head was currently propped in Erza's lap, where it had landed when she had decided to put him out of his misery with a well placed knock to the head. Gray was scowling out the window. Evidently his talk with Juvia hadn't been exactly stellar, but he wasn't talking on it.

Lucy had every intention of getting some shut eye along the few hours of the trip, but Erza was in a chatty mood.

"So, Lucy, I promised that I would lend you some of my novels," Erza announced as she started pulling books out of a bag that had been propped up on top of Natsu. "I figured that you may have wanted to spend this time with one."

"Oh, that's okay Erza, but..." Lucy tried to dissuade the redhead.

She held one up, showing off a front of gaudy gold surrounding a couple passionately embracing, covered in nothing but a royal violet sheet, and scanned over the back cover, "This one is about a noble woman who runs away from her home and joins a gypsy caravan, where she meets the dashing, tall-dark-and-handsome Edward, who, unbeknownst to her, is also of noble blood." She thrust the book out at Lucy, fully expecting her to take it. "It's probably one of my favorites. The sex is-"

"No," Gray blanched and suddenly stood, "I'm getting food." He quickly stepped around Lucy and made his way down the aisle to the café car. Lucy found herself wishing she could do the same. She wasn't sure she wanted to be reading any of Erza's generously proffered erotica – especially out in the open! Even just discussing the contents had her casting quick glances around at the other passengers. Catching some eyes, she sank down lower in her seat in an attempt to hide.

She wished that she could be as brazen and bold as Erza about things like this. Not having any care at all about what others thought of her.

Lucy hated to admit it, but her upbringing left her with a more sheltered view of love and sex. She had always dreamed of being sweetly courted and swept off of her feet, into the arms of her prince charming. Now, however, she found her tastes shifting, and she wasn't sure how to handle them. Cana probably deserved no small part of the blame there, what with her loud, drunken openness and wont to share very intimate details of her encounters. But Lucy found herself curious. And envious.

Maybe this would be a good exercise for her! It wasn't like she was waving the book around, screaming of obscene sex acts on the train. She was merely casually flipping through something that could entertain her more privately.

Before she had time to read the back cover's teaser, Erza was already handing her two more books. "I am not sure as to the exact nature of your tastes, but when we get back home we may go through my more extensive collection." She paused as she shuffled through the bag, 'hm'-ing. "I only bring my favorites with me."

"The green one is about a florist who moonlights as a dominatrix, while the red one tells the more adventurous tale of a female ninja who uses her feminine wiles complete her missions." Okay, the one about the ninja did sound kind of interesting. But the floral dominatrix was a no-go. She couldn't see herself being into that enough to even read it.

"You know what, Erza? I think these two will be plenty for now," Lucy said as she tried to hand back the green-covered novel.

"Are you sure? You will have to tell me how you like them when you have finished." Erza received the book and placed it back inside her bag, along with others that she had been sifting through. "From there I may be able to better offer others that I think you would like."

"Thanks, Erza." Lucy looked out the window at the brightening sky going by. If she hurried, she could still get an hour or two of sleep!

"I think I'm going to catch a little shut-eye before we get there. Just to make sure that I'm all well-rested for this mission. Wouldn't want to not be at my top game." Yes, she was playing on Erza's sense of duty and added appropriate emphasis where needed.

Erza nodded in understanding, "Very well. That is a wise decision. I will be sure to wake you before we arrive, Lucy."

Lucy smiled and shuffled around in her seat to get comfortable. She finally closed her eyes to drift off, but hadn't missed the redhead gently running her fingers through Natsu's wild, pink hair.

* * *

Once arriving at the Akane Resort, the team set out to locate their contact. Gray snagged aside someone official-looking, asking after the person in charge of the mission contract. They were pointed to the resort and told that someone would be waiting for them at the entrance.

Their contact turned out to be a lavishly attired stout man. He handed off his drink to someone and scuttled over to them with a grin and welcoming gesture. "You must be here for the island house mission, yes?"

Erza stepped forward and addressed him, "Yes, we are mages from the Fairy Tail guild. I am Erza." She gestured towards the others in turn, "These are my teammates – Natsu, Lucy, and Gray."

The little man clapped his hands together excitedly. "Great, great! Yes! Yes... I," he paused for effect and spoke with overzealous embellishment, "am Akane Resort's Director of Establishment and Developmental Affairs!" He seemed to be expecting something – applause? accolades? - at the end of this bellowed proclamation.

Erza was the one to break the awkward silence. "Is there anything more that you can tell us about the island and the disappearances, Mr. Director?"

"Percival Bartholomew Reginald Meriwether Fairview the Third!" the man corrected. "But you, my fiery-haired beauty, may call me Barty." Erza tried to hide the less-than-flattered look she made, but her teammates caught it.

"Continuing on!" Director Barty stepped over to a window overlooking the nearby ocean. "We, the Akane Resort, have been hoping to develop the island that you all can see not too far out there," the team shuffled around each other to get a look at where he was pointing, "and we have sent out two separate teams over the past few months. The first was to make offers and negotiate with the inhabitants of the lone house there, and the second was sent to figure out why we haven't heard back from the first. And now they're both missing!"

Director Barty seemed quite bothered and an angry red hue spotted his round cheeks. "Honestly, the whole darn island is a mystery! We are all so sure that it hasn't been there but recently. But we are hoping to add a new segment to the park, and the island would be very strategic to have, indeed. However," he stopped and took in a deep breath, "a number of our guests have been reporting seeing glowing figures and ghostly apparitions walk the island's coastline at night. No-one else will go over now for fear that the island is being haunted by the previous people sent over!" He let out a raucous cough and tried to compose himself. Another man rushed up to his side and handed the Director a handkerchief.

Erza crossed her arms and leaned on one foot, contemplative.

Natsu threw out what the rest of the team was wondering, "So, wha' do ya want us to do to complete the job?"

Director Barty withdrew a small scroll from his overcoat. "I want you all to get this," he thrust up the scroll, "signed by whoever owns that house – relinquishing that island and house to us! It outlines any negotiations we are willing to make, so you won't have to worry about that." He let out another cough while waving the scroll towards Erza to take. "If you only investigate the sightings and can figure out where our people went, you will still get part of the reward money.

"We, of course, will provide transport to and from the island. There is a make-shift dock set up down by the beach," he provided. "A clerk may assist you with the accommodation fees if you so wish to stay here at our wonderful Five-Star Resort." Another staff member chose this moment to lean down to whisper something in his ear. "Ah! I must be going now. Important meetings and all that. Ta-ta!"

As he turned away and made off down a hall, the other staff floating around the team made themselves scarce as well.

Gray grabbed Natsu in a choke hold, "Ya hear that, flamebrain? We only get the full reward – the resort stay! – if we convince someone to give up their home so that this place can turn it into some tourist trap!"

Natsu flailed his arms around in an attempt to free himself, trying to spit out something that sounded like something between an apology and a conveyance of hope.

Erza chose that moment to step in and separate the two before they caused any damage. "While I am not entirely pleased with what the Director would have us do, either, we can at least check out the island and speak to the homeowner. We may still complete part of the mission, so coming here may not have been entirely for naught," she reasoned.

"Should we find a room to put our things?" Lucy asked, beginning to feel the weight of the bag on her shoulders.

"I already checked mine with a staff member. You do not appear to have much, however, so I recommend taking it with you. Besides, we may not be here long enough to require rooms for the night." Lucy didn't dare argue with Erza's logic, though she had no idea when she had found the time to check her luggage anywhere. That was Erza for you.

"Yeah, it didn't sound like they were putting us up, either. Cheap bastards," Gray scoffed. "A ritzy place like this would put a dent in all of our wallets." He began heading towards the door. "We should get a move on so we don't have to stay here tonight."

* * *

They found the dock off the beach easily enough. It was very simply made with shaky planks and rope that went out a couple dozen feet, and it didn't look like it was set to last. A small boat, too small to look like it would be able to safely carry the whole team across was very loosely roped to the dock.

Gray, who had lost his shirt somewhere between the resort and here, was less than pleased by the downward spiraling turn of events. "The fuck is that?" he sneered. "How is that dinky thing supposed to hold anything?" he gestured wildly at the boat in anger.

He straightened and turned around to face the others, "Guys, I know what happened to the other people sent to the island."

"Wha- how? What happened? Did I miss something?" a shocked Natsu exclaimed.

Gray snapped, "They drowned."

Lucy covered her mouth to prevent a giggle from escaping. Gray was playing up the dramatics today more than usual.

"Taking current evidence into consideration, I am inclined to say that Gray's conclusion is completely viable. However, we should still find a way to investigate the island," came Erza's more level-headed suggestion.

"I dunno about you guys, but I could easily swim the distance to the island," Natsu grinned.

Not to be outdone, the ice mage challenged Natsu, "So could I! I bet that I could beat you there!" He was already running out to the shallow waters.

With a yell, Natsu was diving in right behind him.

Lucy shook her head disbelievingly, "I guess that just leaves you and me with the boat, Erza. Surely it could carry only the two of us across?"

But Erza was already making her way down the shaky dock towards the small boat. She carefully sat herself in the boat and adjusted the oars. She looked up at Lucy, who was toeing a plank at the edge of the dock cautiously, expectantly, "We must hurry Lucy. Do not be afraid."

"You're sure it's not gonna just, like, fall out from under me or anything?" Lucy was dubious.

Erza shrugged and looked over the dock, "Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that. But I will ensure that you do not drown if you fall in."

Lucy looked down and gathered her courage to quickly, but carefully, step down the dock to the boat after she realized that the water here was only a few feet deep. She would hopefully manage to not drown in that if she fell.

Once she, too, was seated in the wobbly boat, Erza removed the length of rope from the dock and coiled it at their feet. Each woman took an oar and spent a few minutes trying to come up with a working rhythm that would carry them across the waters.

* * *

A few false starts later – and a big push towards the end after a leak made itself known, they touched the boat down on the sandy shore of the island. They hauled the boat up a ways to ensure that it wouldn't get lost to any tides and looked around for the boys.

Not seeing either of them, Lucy and Erza began calling their names out while making their way inland. The island was small, but big enough that they could not yet see the house or the opposite coast. Trees and undergrowth were thick around them as they walked.

There was a yell off to their right. "That sounds like Gray!" Lucy hoped they hadn't found trouble already. She and Erza quickly ran in the direction they heard the sound come from.

They were greeted by the sight of Natsu playing keep away with Gray's pants. And a naked Gray.

Erza marched in their direction yelling, "Do you two honestly believe this is appropriate right now? That kind of behavior is hardly going to help us convince anyone to sign the contract we were given!"

Natsu pouted and chucked Gray's pants back at him now that Erza had sucked away his fun. "There's a path over there that probably leads to the house," he said, likely trying to deflect Erza's ire by being useful.

Getting down to business, Erza made her way to it, casting a last warning glance at him. No-one hesitated to follow, though Gray took a moment to to redress.

Everyone was on high alert now and the mood of the mission finally set in. It didn't take long for them to come upon a well-built two-story house. Smoke was coming from a chimney on the roof. They halted several feet from the stairs that lead up to a wide veranda.

Lucy's fingers automatically found their way to her keys to ready herself for a possible attack. The others were just as twitchy as she was.

Taking the lead, Natsu, showing more caution than normal, slowly stepped up the stairs to stand before an ornate door. He looked back, and at Erza's nod, loudly knocked thrice upon the door. "I don't hear any movement inside," he told the others with his head cocked to the door. He stepped back and shouted, "Hello? Is anyone home?" There was still no answer.

Lucy looked up at the large windows on the second story of the home. She started when she thought she saw the outline of a dark figure move away from the curtains in one. She felt her feet following Erza and Gray up to the veranda to join Natsu.

"Hey, there's a bag here," said Gray, bringing attention to a backpack settled on a rocking chair a few feet away. He looked around before undoing the latch on top. He sifted through the contents and pulled out a folder with some fliers. "This is full of brochures and stuff for the resort. You think it belonged to one of the workers?"

Natsu had his face pressed to a window, but mumbled back, "Probably. Is there anything else in there? I'm hungry." Trust Natsu to bring up food during a mission that was taking a decidedly spooky turn.

Gray chucked a granola bar at him, hitting him hard enough to knock his head away from the window. Natsu growled, rubbing his head, but Erza stepped between the two before they could start up again.

Lucy took in everything else around them. There was a cute welcome mat at their feet. There had been well-kept flower beds lining the veranda and the flowers in pots along the rails of the veranda were all bright and in bloom. Someone was obviously taking good care of them. "Maybe they're not here right now," she suggested, but then remembered the figure she thought she had seen. Should she mention that to the others? She was starting to get a bad feeling about this, and she liked to trust her bad feelings.

Before she could voice her concerns, however, Natsu had become impatient and turned the doorknob, revealing the door to be unlocked. He gave a push and the door easily swung open. Lucy was aghast at such a rude action, though couldn't bring herself to be surprised – this was Natsu.

Natsu stuck his head in and looked around. Seeing no-one, he stepped over the threshold and turned on a lamp on the stand next to the door. Erza and Gray followed in around him. Not wanting to be left outside all alone, Lucy hastily rushed to Erza's side.

The house looked lived-in, yet...not. The furniture was all cozy-looking and there were pictures hanging on the walls, but something was off. Before them was a large living room, situated around a grand fireplace. Beyond that was what looked to be a kitchen, the separating wall cut out to act as a bar counter window with a few stools spaced along it. There were two doors and a large grandfather clock off to the left under a landing, which was connected to their level by a staircase to their immediate left. From this angle, none of them were able to see where exactly the stairs and landing lead to.

Not getting the same vibes Lucy was – and having no consideration for another person's property, Natsu strolled over to the large, plush couches and quickly made himself comfortable in one.

"Natsu!" Lucy scolded when he went to prop his feet up on the long table at the center of the cluster of couches and chairs.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when more lights turned on. The others perked up as well. "You guys, I think we should try again later!" She couldn't stop the shiver that just went up her spine.

Erza pursed her lips, hands on her hips, "That may be the best course of action at present. We should go back to the resort and see if we can find out more about this place from the guests and other workers."

Lucy was all on board with that plan and turned to head back out the door. Which was closed. She had definitely not closed the door! She reached for the knob and turned it back and forth while pulling frantically. "Guys, it's locked!"

Natsu hopped up and walked over to her, "You must not be doing it right, Lucy. Here, lemme try." Lucy stepped aside and let Natsu at it. He very confidently gave the knob a turn and pulled, but the door didn't budge. He tried again, but to no avail. He frowned, "That's weird. Why'd you shut it?"

Lucy held up her hands and shook her head, "I didn't!"

Gray walked heavy-footed to the kitchen and looked around, then ran back and up the stairs next to them. He halted on the landing and yelled, "We know you're here! Quit playing games!"

He then visibly froze, she could see the color drain from him even from where she stood. Lucy heard a young girl's voice carry down softly from above, "But the games have only begun."


	2. Chapter 2

**General notice:** Please do not ask me what the pairings will be. I prefer to keep a little mystery in that area. Some will make themselves known very early, others may take awhile to develop (ya know, like most normal relationships). Some may switch throughout the course of the story. Some are going to be a little awkward for me to write (I have my shippings, but some aren't going to work for this story), and that may show. Some will be totally platonic. Some situations are going to be completely unconventional – and I'm hoping they'll be a lot of fun for all of us. I guess that I can say that even if your favorite pairing isn't "official," there may be some more minor scenes where it may come up. Once we get going further along, I'll be open to some suggestions – y'all will probably catch on pretty quickly to what I mean in a few chapters.

As I've told some in PMs, this story is probably not going to be particularly centric to any one pairing. The POV will switch (and frequently when we really get going), but will often times be Lucy's as a way to bring some focus to what will get pretty hectic. This will, by no means, be anything short or simple. Chapters will be whatever length I deem appropriate (some will be much shorter or longer than others), and update times may be scattered.

I look forward to reviews, and will probably answer most questions as I can. :)

Happy reading!  
-Fancy

* * *

Chapter 02-

Natsu bolted up the stairs, fists readied and engulfed in flames. He looked around for the owner of the voice, but nothing seemed to be there. He turned to Gray, "What was that?"

Gray snapped back to his senses, "A-a little girl. She was all glowy. I could see through her."

"You got scared from a little girl?" Natsu laughed.

Gray defended himself and tried to explain what he saw, "Her face was just...disfigured. You didn't see her eyes!" He paused, trying to find words that fit, "They were...they were demonic! They did not belong on a little girl wearing a fucking sundress!" He smoothed his hands over his face. "And then she just vanished."

The two jerked when they sensed movement from down the darkened hall before them. From its depths rolled out a small red ball.

Gray reflexively stopped it with his foot when it came close enough. "She was carrying it. Tossing it in the air to herself before she disappeared."

Lucy, who had been perched halfway up the stairs with Erza, was confused, "But you made her sound like she was a ghost. She could touch and move the ball?"

"Yeah. It feels pretty real to me," Gray replied as he bounced and squished the ball with his foot.

"Maybe we shouldn't touch it," Lucy voiced, concerned.

Gray shrugged, pulled a face, then forcefully kicked the ball back down the hall, where it disappeared back into the shadows.

There was the whisper of another giggle.

He looked like he wanted to take off down the hall, undoubtedly to figure out what was going on, but seemed to think better of it and made his way down the stairs instead. Pushing aside curtains, he began to inspect the large windows on either side of the door. Natsu quickly caught on to what Gray was thinking and ran down to help.

Gray tried to unlatch the window locks and push them up, but they, like the door between them, wouldn't budge. Despite the situation, Lucy found herself fleetingly wishing she had windows like that to keep Natsu out of her apartment better.

Gray stood back, "I say we break the damn things."

That was all Natsu needed to hear.

Setting a fist aflame and pulling it back, he struck out at the window, fully intending to shatter it to pieces. The glass did shatter on impact, but his fist was unable to pass through the window. When he pulled it back, shards fell to the ground, revealing a blackness.

Before their eyes the glass seemed to stitch itself back together, with dark, glistening ribbons dancing, rolling, and entwining themselves through one another, until there was no evidence of the damage that Natsu had caused. The shards that had fallen to the floor were nowhere to be seen.

Setting his jaw determinedly, Natsu pummeled the window, but the house seemed to heal itself just as fast. In a flash, he turned to the door and repeated the same thing. Splinters flew all around, but the end result was the same. If there was a way out of the house, this wasn't it.

Natsu was slack-jawed. "Now wha' do we do?" his face was full of confusion

"Maybe we could find something down here. Like clues as to where we are?" Lucy supplied.

Erza gave a determined nod, "I agree. We stay down here for now and check out the other rooms." Erza turned on a nearby lamp and began going through drawers, "Inspect everything!"

"I call the kitchen!" Natsu shouted as he dashed there.

Gray rolled his eyes and walked over to the fireplace. Crouching down, he tried to peer up the chimney, but it was too dark to see. He stuck an arm into the chimney a little ways and tried to see if his Ice-Make magic would find an opening here. The ice shot up a little ways, before being halted with a clang and falling back down. Without having a way to see up into the chimney, he couldn't be sure if the same thing had happened here as with the door and windows.

It was then that everything went dark as the lights flickered out. They all came back on a minute or so later with a burst of energy.

Lucy reached down and thumbed through her keys, alarmed that she could suddenly no longer feel the magic energy of any of them.

"Guys!" Natsu came barreling out the kitchen door, a half-eaten chicken leg in hand, "I just sensed something weird!"

"I can't feel anything from my keys!" Lucy tried not to outright panic, but this had never happened before.

Gray's brow furrowed, "You think it's related to whatever made the lights go out?"

Erza stepped near Lucy and tried to reassure her, "Lucy, we will all protect you if need be. We don't know what exactly is going on, yet, but we will get to the bottom of it."

"And in the mean time, there's tons of food in the kitchen," Natsu said around the chicken leg stuffed into his mouth.

The others all looked at each other before making their way past Natsu and into the kitchen. Erza began opening cabinets that lined the room. Her eyes fell to the tub of fried chicken sitting on a counter skeptically, "Where is this from?"

Natsu shrugged, "It kind of just appeared when I was going through the fridge."

"And you ate it?" she exclaimed.

"But, I really wanted fried chicken," he tried to explain.

Lucy reprimanded him, "Natsu! What if it was poisoned?"

He pouted, reaching towards another piece of chicken, "I don't smell anything funny with it." Erza smacked his hand away from the tub.

Gray opened the fridge, eyebrows rising at the contents, "This place has almost everything!" He grabbed a canned soda from within and held it up to look at it closer.

"Let's not touch anything until we can determine how safe it may be," Erza reasoned. At a rumble of her stomach, however, she amended with a blush, "At least let us stick to things not easily tampered with." She joined Gray at the fridge.

With Erza's back turned, Natsu grabbed the tub of chicken from off the counter and started chowing down on the contents. Lucy waved him off when he so graciously offered her a piece.

She took one of the sodas that Gray had popped open while he and Erza nibbled on light things. Lucy didn't feel hungry enough to be chancing anything at the moment.

With the others satisfied for the time being, they made their way back out to the living room.

Lucy was still uneasy, but tried to put on a confident front, "Should we check out the rest of the room?" Opening the two doors beneath the upper landing revealed a closet, equipped with shelves of linens, and a bathroom, which housed a bathtub and various toiletries. "Well, I guess that's that for down here," she deflated a bit knowing they'd probably be going upstairs next.

Erza chose then to speak up, "I found some documents that may be of some future use. There isn't much to them, but they are addressed to the Lavande Estate."

"So that's what this place is?" Gray questioned.

Erza shrugged and picked up papers from an end table, "Possibly. They look and felt really old, though."

"Hey, guys!" Natsu yelled, grinning and hanging over the railing on the landing above, "I think we should see what's up here!"

"Well, we don't have much other choice," Gray grumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked to the stairs.

Erza marched after, urging Lucy to stick close to her.

Once on the upper floor, Lucy saw that it lead only to a hallway lined with doors on either side. When Natsu began walking towards it, a sconce lit up with a flicker. Looking behind herself, Lucy saw a window and remember that that was where she had probably seen the figure from outside.

Natsu tested the knob to the nearest door on his left. Opening it revealed a rather plain bedroom. He popped in to inspect a closet, but it was empty.

Grey took the next door down, which revealed the same.

Lucy turned to the first door on the right and noticed a much more ornate knob than the others had. She made eye contact with Erza next to her and slowly swung the door open. Inside were rows of tall bookcases, the shelves of which were all packed with books and papers and trinkets. At the nearest side of the room sat a large decorative desk and a plush chair. Lots of natural light flooded in from the large windows opposite them.

Erza called out to the boys and they all filtered into the library.

Under other circumstances, this would have been a dream come true for Lucy. The shelves held all kinds of novels and biographies and much more. The walls had been painted a light periwinkle with white trim. The room had an immediate calming affect on her.

She zigzagged between the rows, running her fingers over the book spines as she read them. She came upon one that was bound loosely by hand with ribbon and gently pulled it out. Looking around, she saw Natsu preoccupied poking at a globe, Erza was going through the desk, and Gray was bent over looking through books on a lower shelf a row back.

The book now in her hands was very simply made: a flower was etched into a dark cover and painted in lightly, while a lavender ribbon spun down the side to bind the pages. Lucy carefully flipped through the thick pages and saw that they were a child's drawings. Turning the book over, she saw scrawled on the back cover, "Property of Roanan Lavande."

She hummed to herself and slid the book back onto its place on the bookcase.

Lucy then continued to make her way to the other side of the room. Here on the far wall, she found another door. She cracked it open and saw that it lead to another dimly lit hall.

A small figure at the other end caught her eyes and she found her feet carrying her towards it. The hall seemed to go on forever, but the figure was slowly getting closer.

Lucy quickened when she saw that it was a little girl with long dark hair wearing a lavender dress. The girl was turned away slightly, but seemed to be smiling. When she turned to face Lucy, she grinned fully and spoke, "My name's Roa. Will you play with me?"

Lucy shook her head to clear it and forced herself to stop walking. She then noticed the red ball at the girl's feet.

Roa giggled and picked up the ball. She began bouncing it up and down, staring at Lucy. "We should play catch!" she announced and threw the ball down the hall towards Lucy.

Lucy's eyes widened and her heart set a fast pace, as at every bounce the ball was suddenly becoming bigger and bigger. She turned on her heels and took off as fast as she could back towards the door she had come out of. She looked back once, and immediately wished that she hadn't – the ball was now taking up the whole hallway!

She kept running and running, eyes focused on the door. She stumbled over her own feet or a rug or something – she didn't know or care – but steadied herself and kept going. Behind her, she could hear the little girl giggling as she fled.

She was now finally within reach of the door. She ran through it and slammed it shut behind herself. The whole wall shook as what she assumed was the ball struck the other side.

At the noise, the rest of her team rushed up around her in stages of combat readiness.

"What happened, Luce?" Natsu asked around clenched teeth.

Lucy tried to catch her breath as she shook on unsteady legs. Erza lead her to the plush armchair near the desk at the other side of the room. Taking a final deep breath, she answered their questioning gazes, "I'm not sure." She closed her eyes to remember better, "I opened the door and saw a little girl. Long hair, sundress, red ball – like the one Gray said he saw!" At this Gray's frown deepened and his jaw clenched. "I don't know what came over me, but I found myself walking towards her. She said her name was Roa Lavande – I think – and asked if I would play with her." She paused and shook her head, "The next thing I know, I'm running back down the hall and there's this giant ball rolling after me!"

Lucy sank into the chair and buried her face in her hands trying to calm down.

Natsu walked back towards the door and flung it open. He then turned back around, confused, "There's only an empty room here, Lucy."

Lucy sat up at this, then ran back towards the door to see for herself. Her jaw dropped at what she saw. True to Natsu's words, it was only a very plain, empty room. There was nothing in it at all.

She backed away shaking her head in denial, "No! That's not what I saw at all."

"I believe you, Lucy," Gray said as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "This house is all kinds of messed up, and it seems to have something to do with the girl." He turned to the other two, "I think we should go back downstairs and figure out what to do from here." They agreed and filed out of the room.

They situated themselves on the couches in the living room. After Lucy complained of being cold, Natsu lit up the fire place in front of them.

Lucy leaned her head against Gray's shoulder, feeling the day's wear. She wasn't sure what time it was, recalling her currently powerless keys, but a look at the windows told her that it was probably early evening. When her stomach finally started protesting, she found her common sense being battered by her hunger.

Natsu must have heard as he hopped up and headed to the kitchen, "I'm gonna make us all some food!" No-one protested.

"What are we going to do about sleeping arrangements?" Gray asked aloud.

Erza looked around, eyes catching the closet on the other side of the room, "There's plenty of room on these couches, so we will sleep here and take turns on watch." She stood and went to the closet. Erza pulled out some pillows and comfy-looking covers, laying them on an unoccupied section of a couch. "I will take first watch," she announced. "Natsu will take second, and Gray will take third."

The smells of cooking food drifted through the room and the group looked towards the kitchen at the sounds of sizzling. Natsu gave a thumbs-up from the bar window.

Minutes later he was carrying a large bowl of what had to be a stir fry, plates, and eating utensils into the living room. He laid everything out on the table in front of them with a grin, "Dig in, guys!"

Gray lifted an eyebrow at this, "Didn't know you knew how to cook anything any other way than roasting it with your fire."

Lucy smiled, proud of Natsu, "He has me to thank him for that. Though a stir fry is easy enough for anyone to make."

"I'd hope so," Gray laughed. "You literally just throw things in a pan and let them cook. Even Natsu can get that."

"Hey!" Natsu objected around his fork.

During supper the team discussed everything that had happened so far. They concluded that the house, the Lavande Estate, was, indeed, most likely haunted like the locals said. The full extent of that was unknown. They had never been able to investigate the island fully, especially at night when the locals had originally seen the apparitions walking the coast. Their main entity was a little girl named Roa, who may have been an occupant in the house at some point in time.

The house itself was completely bizarre, being able to heal and change itself at will. Whether due to the house itself or another force was yet to be seen.

Erza and Lucy took dish duty after their supper. Natsu was telling a (clearly exaggerated) story trying to lighten the mood.

When they returned to the living area, they made themselves comfortable on the couches once again, tossing around the pillows and blankets. Lucy settled in against Gray, who had propped his feet up on the table. Natsu was sprawled over the other couch all by himself, and Erza took to the available armchair, watching the fire thoughtfully.

"Get some sleep everyone," Erza said quietly. "Natsu, I'll wake you when it's your turn to take watch."

Lucy felt her eyes become heavy and didn't fight the oncoming sleep. She was aware of Gray shifting some, then felt herself being lowered from his shoulder to his lap. She gave a contented sigh and finally lulled off to Gray's steady heartbeat.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 03-

Lucy wasn't sure what had woken her up at first. There was light streaming in through the windows, signaling that it was at least early morning. She was about to close her eyes and settle back in when she heard voices. From outside.

A loud pounding on the door was enough to wake the others into various states of consciousness. Erza was up on her feet first, sword in hand. Lucy was the next up, eying a groggy Natsu and yawning Gray, who had apparently fallen asleep on his watch.

Lucy cautiously made her way to one of the windows next to the door and moved a curtain enough to peep out. She jumped back with a scream at the face pressed up against the glass in front of her, but then realized who it belonged to. She threw aside the curtain completely and pounded on the window with her fists, yelling, "Bixlow!"

Her shouts fully roused the others and they all ran up to the windows.

At spotting Laxus walking along the veranda, Natsu bellowed his name and slammed his palms on the window. No matter what they did, though, the group outside didn't seem to see them or even hear them.

Laxus knocked on the door again, which caused the group trapped inside to become even louder, but he only shrugged and started talking to the rest of his group.

Lucy felt her blood run cold when they all turned around and started walking away from the house. She took deep breaths and rationalized it to herself, "Maybe they're just doing what we should have done and are going to go find more information about the place before trying to barge in." She kept nodding, "They'll be back. And then we'll be out of this place!"

* * *

Natsu ran his hands over his face, "Aaaaargh, I'm so boooored!" The others wouldn't admit it, but they were, too.

They had already eaten breakfast. It had been discovered that the kitchen was able to restock itself after Natsu had raided the fridge that morning. They had been expecting a near-empty fridge when they had opened it to see what he had left behind, but it had been as full as ever – like it had never even been touched by Natsu.

Lucy was eying the bathroom behind them, weighing the pros and cons of chancing a shower in this house. She had come to the conclusion that the last thing she trusted here was the doors. Erza felt similarly and made the decrees that she was not to go anywhere alone since her keys were still out of commission, and the team was either to use the bathroom in pairs or the door was to always be open whenever anyone used it.

"Lucy, would you like to shower together?" Crap. Erza had noticed her staring at the door and sounded excited at the prospect. And she would actually insist on showing _together._

Lucy tried to run through her options in her head, coming up blank on anything good.

Gray was chuckling behind his hand next to her, "I'll go with ya." Lucy pulled a face, crinkling her nose. "What other options do ya have?"

What indeed? Erza was totally out. She didn't even want to think about asking Natsu. And if she went by herself, she'd have to leave the door open, allowing any random interruption – most likely from Natsu.

Gray really was the best of a list of terrible options.

Lucy scowled at him, "You peek and I'll Lucy Kick you!" Erza looked slightly put out at being turned down in favor of Gray.

Gray rolled his eyes but got up and followed her to the bathroom, "You've seen me naked plenty of times!"

Lucy gave him a look, "I'm not the one with the habit of taking my clothes off anywhere I go!" He was about to protest, but she pointedly mentioned that he was still shirtless from having lost his shirt somewhere at the Akane Resort.

The bathroom was relatively spacious and well lit. The walls were covered in a light floral print and the fixtures were all brushed chrome. Towels and wash clothes were hung on a pair of bars affixed to the wall above the toilet, next to the bathtub. Peeking under the sink, Lucy found bottles of various bath products and pulled some out, not particularly caring what she chose.

Shooting another look at Gray, he shut the door and plopped himself on the floor, still facing the door. Lucy placed the bottles on a ledge of the tub, then pulled the matching floral shower curtain aside and climbed in.

She made sure that Gray couldn't see her, occasionally peeking out while she undressed. She stuck an arm out around the curtain and piled her clothes, keys, and whip on the toilet seat.

She pulled at the faucet knobs in front of her and shrieked when she was suddenly pelted with frigid water. Upon hearing Gray's movement on the other side of the curtain, Lucy flung an arm out, "It's fine, it's fine! Water's just super cold!"

He sounded slightly concerned, "You sure?"

"Yes, yes! All's fine!" she placated, overly chipper, as she tried to find a more tolerable temperature.

Her shower continued without incident, but Lucy found the silence to be a bit awkward. She cleared her throat, asking, "So, how did your talk with Juvia go yesterday morning?" He remained silent for a time and Lucy realized that that may not have been the best topic to start with, since it seemed to be the stem of his bad mood the previous day.

His voice almost startled her, "You know how she is. I'd expected it, but..." There was a long pause. "I dunno. I'm trying to give her chance, but she doesn't seem to trust me around other women. It's not exactly a very good start, and it gets frustrating."

Lucy shivered, "Yeah, I know how she can get about you."

"Also, I highly recommend avoiding her for awhile when we get back. Perhaps take a mission out of town for a few days. Or a week," Gray suggested.

"It was that bad?" Lucy exclaimed as she missed her hand pouring out the conditioner from one of the bottles. It landed at her feet with a small plop before washing away down the drain.

"She's convinced that you're the reason I put off our dinner plans to go on a mission," Gray sighed.

Lucy laughed humorlessly, "Great. That'll be just what I need when we manage to get out of this place. You didn't tell her about the, well, _possible_ resort stay?"

He snorted, "Yeah, I didn't get that far. I left in the middle one of her breakdowns, otherwise I would've missed the train."

"Well, good luck with all of that," Lucy said sincerely.

"Thanks, I'll need it," she heard his head thunk against the door. "Truthfully, I don't see it working out." He started to explain, "She…just seems to have a much different picture of me than I really am. And she's clingier than I'm really comfortable with."

Lucy could see that. "Well, maybe this will open her eyes to that. If it doesn't work out, we'll see if we can maybe divert her attentions elsewhere," a picture of the Trimen boys came first to Lucy's mind.

Lucy finished up her shower and turned the water off. She reached out for one of the towels hanging nearby, then realized that she had nothing clean to change into. She couldn't remember if she had packed anything extra – usually she relied on Virgo for clothes. "Uh, Gray? Can you ask Erza for my bag?" she pleaded while wrapping the fluffy violet towel around herself.

She heard the door open and Gray yelled out across the room for someone to toss her bag to him. A moment later he turned and held it out to her. She brought it back behind the curtain with her and began digging through it.

She found many things that might be of some use later – like her Gale Force Reading Glasses, a journal and pen, an extra blanket, a light jacket, some snacks, a water bottle, and some girly things – and some things that probably wouldn't be (she shoved aside the two books Erza had lent her). And aha! She finally found the two extra pairs of panties she had packed. As long as those were clean, she would survive this.

Lucy toweled herself off more before slipping on the undies and gathering up the rest of the clothes she had left beside the tub and setting her bag down on the floor. She dressed quickly back into her pink halter-top and black skirt, and then stepped out to towel her hair and run a comb through it.

Gray hopped up, "My turn!" Lucy flushed and spun away as, true to his nature, he started stripping right there in front of her.

She heard him yank aside the shower curtain and turn the water on, "A little warning would've been nice, Gray!"

He scoffed, "Nothing you haven't seen before."

"Not purposefully!" she hollered.

He chuckled, then made a disgusted sound, "Is there anything under the sink that's less girly? I don't wanna smell all flowery!"

Lucy stuck her tongue out at him, even though she knew he couldn't see it, "Nope! You're stuck with it." There might have been, but she wasn't going to look now.

* * *

"Man, I wish we had some cards or something," Natsu complained while doing push-ups on the floor.

Lucy felt much more relaxed now that she was clean. Which is probably why it took her a minute to mentally process the significance of the deck of cards that had appeared on the end table next to her. When it did, she shot so far down the couch that she was nearly falling off the other side.

Erza, who had been sitting kitty-corner to Lucy in her claimed armchair, leaned over and gingerly picked the box up with an air of suspicion. She turned it over every-which-way, but didn't seem to find anything wrong with it. After setting the box down on the long table in the middle of everyone, she sat back thoughtfully, "The house, or whoever is keeping us here, seems capable or willing to fulfill minor demands."

Natsu hopped up from his position on the floor and grabbed the box. Opening the top, he slid the cards out into his hand and flung the box off to the side. He sifted through them, and shrugged, "Who wants to play?" He began shuffling the cards, half of which flew across the table after he tried and completely failed a complicated flourish.

Gray looked skeptical, eying the scattered cards, "Play what?"

Natsu grinned lopsidedly, "Well, I really only know how to play Go Fish."

"And who's surprised at that?" Gray said dryly. He agilely dodged Natsu's lunge, who tumbled and landed head-first on the floor on the other side of the couch. Aware of Erza's deadly glare, he chose to ignore Natsu and instead reached down and regathered the cards that had been thrown on the floor and table.

Bored, but not feeling like actually doing much else, Gray gave the cards a couple shuffles and began dealing them out to everyone. At the seventh deal around, he set the rest of the deck neatly at the center of the glass-topped table.

Lucy tentatively picked up her cards as the others picked theirs up from the table.

"Erza starts," Gray said as he fiddled with his cards.

At his words, Erza's face lit and she sat up a little straighter, "Alright! Gray, do you have any Threes?"

"Nope, go fish," Gray smirked, and she reached forward for a new card from the deck.

Gray then looked expectantly at Lucy. "Oh, my turn now?" Lucy chewed her lip and scanned through her hand, "Uhm, Natsu, do you have any Jacks?"

Natsu sank low into the couch as he plucked the two Jacks from his hand and passed them to Lucy.

Continuing her turn, Lucy turned to Erza, "Do you have any Aces, Erza?" At a shake of her head, Lucy picked a card from the table.

"Lucy!" Natsu jumped at his turn, "Do you have any fours?"

She stuck her tongue out at him, "Nope! Go fish, Natsu!" He did so with a grumble.

"My turn," Gray stated. He looked at Lucy from the corner of his eye, then turned, looking like a cat that had caught the canary, "Gimme your Jacks, Lucy."

"Oh, boo," Lucy deflated. That would give him a full set already. She watched as he pulled his Jack from his hand and put the full set on the table.

The game continued on in much the same way, with Natsu protesting each time Gray managed to get a full set. In the end, Gray had, predictably, won. He was currently defending himself from Natsu's accusations that he had cheated.

Erza gathered up the cards from the table to reshuffle them. She paused in her movements, thinking, then sifted through the cards to pull out three of the four Queens, leaving only the red Queen of Hearts in the deck. She shuffled the cards again and dealt them all out to the four players. "We're playing Old Maid," she stated matter-of-factly.

Natsu froze with his fist in the air in front of Gray, "But I dunno how to play that."

Gray took that moment to shove him away and returned to his seat on the couch. "It's almost exactly the same as Go Fish. You match all the cards to face and color by picking a card from someone else's hand, except you don't want to be the one left with the Old Maid card," Gray explained.

"What's the Old Maid?" Natsu asked.

Erza answered, "I chose the Queen of Hearts. So, in this game, Natsu, that will be the only Queen, and it's the card that you do not want."

The game picked up without much fan fair.

Lucy giggled to herself behind her hand of cards. Erza became curious and asked what was on her mind. Lucy found herself laughing harder, "Nothing, I was just picturing Laxus in that little, tiny rowboat." Erza thought a moment, picturing it, then bit her lip to prevent a laugh.

Gray snorted, "Ha! I'm not sure that thing would even hold him up."

"But he'd just teleport with his lightning," Natsu didn't seem to catch on as he furrowed his brow.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him, "You didn't have to sit in that thing trying to row over here!" She huffed with a pout, "It's just funny picturing it." She reached over and forcefully plucked a card from Natsu's hand, matching it with one of her own.

There was a loud thunk from the kitchen, then the sound of the fridge being opened. The group hastily jumped up, cards scattered everywhere, and strained to see into the kitchen through the opening in the wall from where they stood. Lucy chose to hang back, but Natsu walked forward with his fists at the ready.

With a shout, Natsu jumped up on the counter that separated the rooms, "Hey! Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

At his exclamation, the others rushed forward to get a better look. The fridge had been flung open and crouched down in front of it was what could only be described as a large, ghostly man rummaging through the contents of the fridge. Not receiving an answer, Natsu jumped down and reached out to turn the ghostly man towards him, but his hand passed right through.

At the action, however, the ghost paused and turned his head to peer at Natsu. He seemed confused, "Who are you?"

Natsu wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation and sputtered, "Uh, I'm Natsu."

The ghost finally turned all the away and stood facing Natsu. The man was quite tall, and just as round as his height. He had a very boyish face, and Lucy thought that he'd probably be considered quite handsome if he lost the weight.

Sliding the length of a kabob into his mouth, the ghost replied back around the mouthful of food, "I'm Persil. I work at Akane. Are you the owners of the house?"

Natsu looked back at the others, "Uh, no. We were sent here to find the owner."

Persil appeared to roll his eyes, "Well, good luck with that. We haven't seen 'em since we got here."

"And when did you get here?" Gray asked from beside Lucy.

"Sometime yesterday, I think. You should really ask one of the others if you want more info, I kinda slept through the meeting about what we're supposed to be doing here," Persil responded before diving back into the fridge.

His response only alarmed and confused the group more. Lucy and Erza shared a look: there were more of these ghosts.

Natsu posed the seemingly innocuous question, "What are you?"

The ghost froze his movements in the fridge, then reared back with a roar, "What am I? Do I offend you? Does my size offend you? The very sight of me fills you with hatred? Sure, I could lose a little weight, but how insensitive can you people be?" He seemed to fall apart with tears streaming down his face, but with every word he spat, he seemed to change right before their eyes.

Parts of him bulged and he grew even larger and became hunched over. A horn broke through skin and grew from one side of his forehead. The length of one arm shriveled to a stark outline of muscle and bone as the skin darkened to a deep, mottled brown. Claws grew from the tips of each finger on the hand. As he pulled his hands away from his face, they could see that one side had turned demonic – the eye had blackened and the lips had been pulled back in an unnatural, permanent grin.

The ghost-demon Persil bellowed, "I am not fat!" and took a swipe at Natsu with his newly clawed hand. Natsu leapt back and rolled off the counter and back into the living room. Persil followed, clamoring over the counter after Natsu.

The others ran backwards, readying themselves as he charged through the room, swiping and clawing everything out of his way. As he came to it, he picked up the table that had been centered between the couches and hefted it at them.

The team dodged by running up the stairs, hearing the glass shattered behind them. They were torn about whether to attack. Gray threw up a wall of ice between them and the demon, but Persil only moved to the side and leapt, flinging his arms up at the landing rail and hauling himself over like it was nothing.

The team ran down the hall, with the demon hot on their heels. Gray threw up ice walls to slow him down, but he would burst right through them. Erza flung open one of the bedroom doors and urged everyone inside. Lucy looked back, and wished she hadn't, but as he came upon them, he suddenly stopped and began clawing wildly at the walls.

His feet were sinking into the floor like he was standing in quicksand. She felt the others at her back and looked on as from the ground behind the demonic thing as a large black hand made from those shimmering, liquid ribbons shot up and wrapped around him. It dragged him into a black shadow on the floor even as he howled and clawed and shredded the carpet and wood planks on the floor. Within seconds he was gone and the only sign that he'd been there was the damage done to everything, but even that was slowly disappearing as the house healed and righted itself.

Lucy closed her slack jaw and tried to swallow. Her knees felt week. She leaned against the door frame and steadied herself, "What just happened?"

Gray was the one to answer her, but he spoke for all, "I have no fuckin' clue."

Natsu stepped around her and made his way over to where the demon-ghost had been dragged into the floor. The wood was completely patched and the carpet was coming together. He stomped a foot on the floor. He looked up, "This hall seems a lot longer than I remember from yesterday."

The others stepped out and noticed that he was right – the hallway before the rooms was much longer than before. They all cautiously looked around, unsure of the next course of action.

The lights on the wall flickered and went out, turning back on with an over-powered pop after a few moments. Though they were now even more alert, the pounding on the front door took them by surprise. They looked to each other before it dawned on them that it could be their comrades.

At the sound of the door opening, they all dashed down the hall. They were greeted by the sight of Laxus and his Thunder God Tribe looking around at the inside of the house.

At the noisy footsteps, the new group had turned and readied themselves for a confrontation. They settled upon seeing Team Natsu, but their faces showed bewilderment.

Lucy was so overjoyed at seeing the faces of their saviors that she threw herself down the steps. "Bixlow!" she exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around the seith mage.

"Didn't know ya felt this way about me, Cosplayer!" Bixlow said with a grin. "Maybe we can go find some place quieter," he suggested with a wag of his tongue as his babies echoed after him.

There was suddenly a flash of gold, "Lucy, my love, I've been so worried! I thought-" Loki stood at the center of where the flash had been. "And here I find you in the arms of another man!" he made a show of being heartbroken and dejected.

Lucy snapped up, her eyes wide, "The door!"

The rest of her team parroted her as she pulled away from Bixlow and rushed the door. As she was reaching for it, it slammed shut. She pulled frantically at the knob shouting, "No, no, no, no, NO!"

Both Natsu and Gray ran forward and tried futilely to break the door down. Gray slammed his palm on the door a final time and cursed.

The Thunder God Tribe looked on, more confused than ever and not fully understanding the implications.

Tears began forming in Lucy's eyes as she walked over to the couches and plunked herself down in one, still unseeing of her Celestial Spirit.

Loki rushed to her side, "Lucy, what's wrong?"

Blinking, she finally took notice of him and embraced him in a hug, "Loki! I thought I'd lost you guys! I couldn't feel any of you or anything," she explained in a rush of words.

Loki pulled back enough to see her face, "That's what we felt! We were suddenly unable to feel your presence and could not summon ourselves to your side!"

Everyone else began talking at once.

"What is going on here?" Laxus' voice boomed above all of the voices.

Gray's answer was succinct, "To put it simply, you all are now trapped here with us in this fucking house."

Laxus scowled, "Why are you even here? We were told at the resort that no-one had taken the mission."

"We talked to their director guy yesterday morning. He sent us over here to get some paper signed," Natsu said with his arms folded behind his head.

Laxus dug into his coat and produced a scroll, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, like that one!" Natsu pointed as Erza produced theirs.

Laxus pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on already – this was supposed to be the easy mission!

"Well, we might as well all sit," Grey said as he gestured at the couches, not even surprised that the whole room had been put back together after the demon had raged through it. As they all turned to make their way over there, the house seemed to expand.

Natsu's face went pale at the brief feeling of vertigo.

From the ceiling dropped two large beanbag cushions and from the floor came up another couch to sit next to the one facing the fire place.

"Yeah, it apparently does that, too," Gray sighed as he made his way over to a couch and fell into it heavily.

Not nearly as used to the house's antics as Team Natsu was, Fried and Evergreen began going around the room with great suspicion. Evergreen nearly completely retraced the same steps that Erza had taken the previous day, opening drawers and cabinets. Fried ran his hands along everything, seemingly looking for traces of spellwork.

The lights flickered off again and the whole group froze on alert.

"But we don't really know what that means," Gray admitted when they came back on.

"I can't open my gate," Loki stated worriedly. "I don't feel anything. It's just a vast…nothingness."

"We're in a spirit plane. A kind of between-worlds area," Bixlow supplied with an unusually serious air. The others looked to him expectantly. He shook his head, "That's all they know," he nodded to his babies, crossing his arms in a thoughtful pose.

"That means you can't get back to the Celestial World," Lucy said to Loki with a distressed frown.

Loki patted her hand reassuringly, "I'll be fine for awhile. At least it isn't one of the others in my place." Lucy nodded but chewed her lip.

The others filtered into the area, choosing seats – Erza took her armchair; Natsu flopped himself on one of the beanbags; Bixlow sauntered up to the spot open beside Lucy and sat with a wild grin, much to Loki's chagrin, who hastily placed himself in the small space between the two to keep Bixlow as far from Lucy as he could; Laxus took up a good portion of the next couch over; and Grey sat opposite Erza in the third couch. Fried and Evergreen chose to continue their work around the room, but kept their ears to the conversation.

Laxus bent over and rested his arms on his legs, clasping his hands at his knees, "You all, start talking."


End file.
